market obscurity

Phone companies would never all offer simple lists of minute rates, because people would simply pick the cheapest one, and the companies would have to lower prices to compete. They offer complicated plans that are hard to compare, so you'll get complacent.

Certain parts of capitalist theory assume that price and extremely short term factors are all that matter in buying decisions. This quite provably false, since people continue to make purchasing decisions on impulse, out of habit and on the basis of bias.

Consumers are more willing to buy from merchants whose names they recognise than those they don't. They are still more willing to buy from merchants who they've have had good experiences with in past or heard good things about.